WAG Team Invite/Tryout System

[JBS]

How do gymnasts enter the team program at your gym? Invite or tryouts? Do you have a pre-team?

 

[cbifoja]

We funnel young rec kids to developmental classes that then feed to pre-team. All of our pre team kids are young (no older than 7YO). Older kids get evaluated if they are coming from another competitive program. So I guess we have a hybrid system.

 

[clrmom]

At our gym...it depends on the child. There is a hot shot/pre-team program for younger girls (usually 4-6 year olds). Other girls are invited from rec directly onto our team (usually level 2). We don't have any try-outs though, it is alway invitation.

 

[Quadqueen]

We have no try outs....only invites.

 

[Gymmommy71]

We do invites for rec kids. Most of them move through a system of progressively harder rec classes (each level jump after beginner is by invite), until they reach pre-team and then, when ready, they get invited into team right before summer...some kids go right to L4 if it makes sense, but most go to L3.

If kids come from other gyms they do one or two classes w/ the group(s) that makes the most sense based on skills and/or what they were at their old gym, and afterwards they get invited into whatever team the coaches and owner feel they'd fit best with. So gymnasts who have already competed at other gyms essentially go through a tryout.

I'd say pretty much all the gyms in my area work this way...only difference being what their first level competition is (some don't have L3 and start at L4, and some don't have anything before L5)...

 

[GymSurvivor]

We do Invites only with the exception of transfer kids who will workout with the team for a day and the head coach will watch them.

We have Rec classes divided 1st grade-3rd grade and 4th and up. From there they are invited into EI (Educational Invitational). Then they have the chance to be invited one time a year, at the end of May.
We also have a Recreational Team, so older girls tend to be invited to that.

Then for younger ones, we have Koalas which is a Kinders Invite class, then developmentals and then they feed directly onto level 3 team and rarely are any kids in developmentals not invited.

 

[mamaS]

We have an invitational program and a preteam program. My littlest dd is three and in what I call a baby elite class, Sounds kind of silly when I say it. They grabbed 3 of the tiny ones from the developmental program and started working with them young. Anyway, we start preteam as early as three.

 

[gymgal]

Yearly tryouts. From here the girls will go into either in-house teams, preteam, and occasionally directly on competitive team. The in-house and preteam girls tryout each year. I guess its just an easy way for all the coaches to evaluate everyone. But once a girl is moved to competitive then the evaluations are done within practice to determine move-ups for the next season. I think transfers are evaluated as they come in.

 

[Jaks]

I am unsure as to what coaches / head coaches look for when the pull children from the rec team to go to development / pre team. The whole process is very much secret when they do invites. From a personal point of view I would be more comfortable with a more open approach with every child getting a chance to try out if they wish ( not every child or parent wants their child to go down the competitive route) but hand on heart I guess it must be most parents wish or they would not have put their children into gymnastics. Some children will never have a chance at pre team ( my eldest dd would never had Made it due to her low muscle tone and size - 9 years old and the height of a 4 year old) also she had no ability in gym what so ever and she struggled with the most basic things. She took gym to help her physically which it did ( she couldn't run or jump in the air with both feet together but she learnt those things in gym, she still cannot skip along the floor), my youngest dd is the opposite, always jumping, climbing and dancing around or upside down.

For my youngest dd I would love for her to move up from rec class one day but I fear time is running out as she is now 6 and has been in rec for 1 year - doing well, passing her badges first time around ( was told by one of the coaches that only the ones good at gym will pass first time as the badges get harder), passing all her cheerleading badges - got her last badge and bronze silver and gold in one go.

Moving up is a mystery and I wish it was fairer so more children get a chance. A lot of children were pulled aside during badge week at my daughters gym to do physical norms testing and many of them could barley do what was needed - they were tested and strength and flexibility. My dd was not one of the lucky ones to be tested even though she was capable of doing most of the test. I am not sure if they were using the test to move children to development groups as I was told that they were forming a new group and were scouting children in the rec class.

 

[gymgurl]

We have 'Talent Identification' boxes on the roll so that when you see a gymnast with some talent you can tick that box and an invitation to be assessed by one of 2 coaches for the next class up (pre-levels). That is the traditional way of going about it but if you start in rec and they see you are already ready for a competitive level they will offer you a spot in team in the level you are at if there is space. Also, if you come from outside you are assessed by one of 2 coaches and put in the appropriate level.

 

[mumoftwogymnasts]

Invite only.

 

[Moxiegrl83]

Ours sounds very similar to most of these. We pull kids out of rec for pre-team. Any coach can recommend someone for PT, but the ultimate decision is the team HC. Normally nothing is said to the child or parents before the invite. For transfers from other competitive programs, they will work with the group for a day or two, then put where the HC thinks they belong. Seems pretty standard.

 

[Kiwi]

At our gym the youngsters in the rec classes get talent spotted by the competitive coaches or a rec coach might recommend a kid they think looks talented to the competitive coaches for them to have a look at. They will then test them, which usually involves taking the kid aside during their class and testing them for strength, etc. If they pass they will get an invite to either IDP or STEPs. There is also a novice comp class that is like an advanced rec class from where they may get invited. Most STEPs kids start in step 1, but occasionally a kid might start in step 2 or 3, say if they are older and quite talented.

Coming from other gyms, I think they go into the step they were already training. If they are not coping then they could be asked to move down a step, but I don't think that is very common. I don't know if they have to do a formal tryout, I think it is more likely they would just join in a normal training session and be evaluated.

Gymnastics is a small sport here and I don't think we really have queues of people trying to get their kids in. The IDP program is very selective, but if a kid isn't cutting it in IDP they would be allowed to move to STEPs. If a kid wasn't coping with STEPs, they would probably be moved down a step rather than kicked out. I'm talking about the WAG program here, as for the MAG program, I have no idea what they do.

 

[mndl]

We have both; there are yearly try-outs in June, but the coaches will sometimes recommend pre-schoolers for the little stars( which is kinda like a pre-pre-team) throughout the year.

 

[thefellowsmom]

Team by invite only once per year with few exceptions. Most kids come up through the dev ranks, but some from rec as well. The young talents go straight to level 4 but the vast majority do level three. Not all dev kids will get streamed to jo team, some will get encouraged Down the xcel path. We have a wide variety of gymnasts on our team but it is a tough, strenuous, conditioning emphasized program with a philosophy that isn't for everyone so it takes care of itself for the most part. I usually feel from my ignorant spot on the bleachers that the kids get to the best place for them. But, there are always a couple head scratchers.

 

[gymmomtoo]

There is a team track, but all girls can try out once they reach a certain level--either in the rec program or the team track program. Nobody makes it to team without trying out, but the team track girls have a better shot, since they've been working towards team the whole time.

 

[gymnastbeth]

All girls in classes can come to team try-outs, nobody gets "cut", but a lot of younger girls get placed in level 2 and 3, which is actually competed at my gym. All gymnasts on team get told at the end of the season what level they will compete the next year, there isn't tryouts for girls already on team.

 

[All Chalked Up]

We have a TINY gym. If you're a half-decent rec kid who loves gymnastics, you'll either be put in Hotshots which is like pre-pre-competitive, our pre=competitive. If you are on pre-team, you are chosen to go competitive, but the criteria isn't hard-core or anything. If you work hard and you have at least most of the P1 skills, you'll be asked to go competitive. We basically take what we can get That being said, we still have a pretty AWESOME team, many gymnasts placing in the top 3 or 5 at Provincials and such.

 

[Krystan]

Invite only for us. There are two pre-teams at our gym: one with younger kids that were weeded out into developmental really young and come from there, and another for the kids who have gone through all of the rec levels. The older pre-team leads into either rec-prep-op, Xcel, or JO L5, depending, and the younger ones are just about always put into JO L4 when they're ready.